1. The trend of naturalization or inviting players with foreign roots to play for national teams in the Southeast Asian region is of course not new.
However, the noisy and even campaign that many countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and most recently Cambodia are pursuing has made football, once considered a backwater of the world, more exciting.
With what we are seeing, especially after Indonesia's success thanks to its policy of inviting players with roots to return, Southeast Asian football will certainly see national teams with more skin colors and ethnicities than ever before.
Indonesia uses many naturalized players, causing the whole of Southeast Asia to follow suit. Photo: SN
2. In 2024, if they had not suffered 3 defeats in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup against Indonesia under coach Troussier, perhaps everything would have been perfect for the fans of the Vietnamese team. Because at the end of the year, the red team won the ASEAN Cup under the command of Mr. Kim Sang Sik.
The defeats to Indonesia were analyzed a lot, such as Mr. Troussier's mistakes, the loss of form of key players, lack of ambition... However, what made fans angry and dissatisfied was that the opponent used many naturalized players instead of "domestic" players like the Vietnam team.
It is understandable that Vietnamese fans are not convinced, because in reality, thanks to the Indonesian players, the team from the archipelago is truly different from themselves, just like when playing against the Vietnamese team before.
3. Facing the above trend and seeing certain effectiveness, the Vietnam team did not stay out of the game by naturalizing Rafaelson. The effectiveness immediately came, when thanks to the excellence of this striker, the ASEAN Cup championship became easier.
The Vietnamese team is not out of the game, but perhaps still has to pursue another path. Photo: SN
The success of the decision to naturalize and call Nguyen Xuan Son to the Vietnam national team has made fans excited, as well as waiting for new faces to conquer the next peak.
However, as a trend, it will only last for a short time and bring certain consequences (besides the effectiveness), so Vietnamese football must be alert and choose a more solid path and foundation.
That path is nothing other than youth training, stadiums, clubs, players, coaches and referees need to be more professional and large-scale, instead of being unstable like in the past.
If we rely on naturalized players, we may only have a short-term success, while the risk of losing is very long. Look at where Singapore - the first national team to follow the path of upgrading with naturalized players - is standing in Southeast Asia at this time.
Vietnamnet.vn
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-ung-xu-the-nao-khi-ca-dong-nam-a-nhap-tich-2370807.html
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